Finding a True Family
by Kage Nightray
Summary: One night, Harry meets a boy with white hair and red eyes, who convinces him that they should run away together. They plan to hide at Hogwarts until they turn eleven. All they really want, though, is to find a family where they are loved. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Harry sat alone on the swings, quietly staring at the ground. Uncle had some important people over for dinner, so he had been sent out of the house. At least he hadn't been locked in the cupboard this time. But still, he didn't like being outside at night. It was too dark and scary.

He heard rustling in the bush behind him and turned slowly in horror, afraid of what could come out. All he saw was a pair of crimson eyes, staring at him from within the bush.

He stared into those red eyes, neither breaking eye contact. After a couple minutes, the other emerged from the bush, revealing a boy with snow-white hair and pale skin.

Harry looked at the boy curiously, having never seen someone who looked like that before.

"Hiya kid! What's your name?" the slightly older boy asked, sitting on the swing next to Harry.

"Harry. What's yours?"

"Gilbert. What're you doing out so late?"

"... Uncle has guests over for dinner, and he doesn't want me upsetting them with my freakishness."

"What do you mean by that?"

"... not supposed to tell."

"Why not?"

"I'll get in trouble."

Gilbert seemed to think about this for a minute before his face lit up.

"Were you the one who turned his teacher's hair blue?" he asked, his eyes shining.

Harry's face turned white. "I didn't do that! I don't know how it happened!"

Gilbert's grin grew. "Watch this."

He pulled a paper bird out of his pocket and held it in the palm of his hand. A moment later, the paper bird started flapping its wings, flying over to Harry.

"How'd you do that?" Harry asked, eyes wide.

"Here, you try," Gilbert said, avoiding the question as the bird fell into Harry's outstretched hand.

"How?"

"Just think about it flying over to me, and it will."

Harry focused hard on the idea of the paper bird flying, and was delighted when his efforts succeeded, the bird flying back into Gilbert's hand.

"Is that what your uncle says is freaky?" Gilbert asked, returning the paper bird to his pocket.

Hesitantly, Harry nodded. Gilbert frowned.

"But Mutti says that West is freaky 'cause he can't do that…"

"West?"

"My little bruder. He's about your size."

"Does he have red eyes too?"

Gilbert laughed. "Nope, that is my own personal freakiness. The other kids think I'm a demon child," he said, sounding a little sad. "Me and West, we're just burdens for poor Mutti."

Harry could sympathize with the older boy. "Uncle says I'm a worthless burden, too."

The two sat on the swings in silence for a couple minutes.

"Hey, I have an idea," Gilbert said suddenly, his loud voice breaking the silence.

Harry looked at him questioningly.

"Why don't we leave? We could take West and find somewhere else to go, and then we wouldn't be a burden on our families anymore," he suggested, cheering up a bit as he spoke.

Harry frowned. "But where would we go?"

"There's a place up north where people like us go to school, but not 'till they're eleven. We could hide there until we're old enough, then start being students!"

"Do you really think that would work?"

"'Course it will!"

"How will we find the school?"

"We'll know it when we find it," Gilbert said confidently.

Harry thought about this for a minute, but couldn't come up with any reason not to.

"Alright. When will we leave?"

* * *

**AN: Harry is about 7 in this story, and Gilbert is 8. Ludwig will be 5.**

**Please let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

A couple hours later, Harry was back at the park, anxiously waiting for Gilbert to return. Harry had been able to quickly and quietly sneak back into his house to retrieve his few belongings, and then sneak back outside again. He would not be returning to the Dursleys' ever again.

Just as Harry was beginning to think that Gilbert had changed his mind, the crimson-eyed boy reappeared, leading a blonde boy about Harry's size.

"Hey, Harry! This is my brother, Ludwig. He's coming with us. West, say hi to Harry," he said quietly, smiling down at his little brother.

"Hi."

"Hi, nice to meet you. Okay, what do we do now?" Harry asked.

"First, we have to get out of the city."

* * *

The group wandered their way out of the city, following Gilbert's lead.

"How do we know where to go now?"

"We go north. See that star?" Gilbert replied, pointing at the sky.

"Yeah."

"If we follow that star, we'll be going north. Sooner or later, we'll reach the school by following that star."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Wow, you're really smart."

"Course I am! I am the oldest after all. Wait, how old are you?"

"Seven."

"Yup! I'm older!"

"... Gilbert?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you be my big brother?"

Gilbert was surprised by this question, but quickly pulled the dark-haired boy into a hug.

"Of course I will! The three of us, we're our own family now. Let's just forget everything that happened before now. We'll be better off that way."

"Okay."

The trio continued walking in silence for another hour or so before Ludwig spoke.

"Big brother?"

"Yeah?"

"... I'm tired…"

Gilbert frowned, looking at the sky. "Let's keep going a little while longer, okay? We'll stop and rest when it gets light out."

"Okay."

* * *

As the sun began to rise, the trio was completely exhausted, having walked for hours. They were in a forest of some sort.

"Can we rest now, big brother?" Ludwig asked, practically falling asleep as he stood there.

"Alright. Let's make a shelter under one of these trees," Gilbert said, taking off his backpack and pulling out a blanket. He threw it over a low branch, creating a makeshift tent. After taking Ludwig's backpack, he pulled out several more blankets, laying them out to create a bed.

"Okay, sleep time. Come on," he said, holding the top blanket up for the younger two.

They crawled underneath the blanket and snuggled up next to Gilbert, both falling asleep almost instantly. Gilbert just watched them sleep for a moment, running his fingers through their hair. As he pulled his hand away from Harry's hair, he noticed the lightning-shaped scar on his forehead.

"Merlin's beard, you're Harry Potter," he whispered, eyes growing wide with shock.

He had just run away with the savior of the Wizarding world.

* * *

**AN: Please let me know what you think so far!**


	3. Chapter 3

As the sun began to set, an exhausted Gilbert - who had gotten very little sleep during the day - woke the younger two.

"It's almost night, we should get moving. Are either of you hungry?"

Ludwig nodded as Harry shook his head.

Pulling snacks out of his bag, he gave some to Ludwig and some to Harry, keeping less for himself.

"You should eat something anyway, Harry."

The boy was astonished that he was being given food. He really was hungry; he had just said he wasn't because he wasn't allowed to complain. Harry then began quickly eating his snack; he couldn't remember the last time he had eaten. Last week, maybe?

Gilbert observed Harry's change in attitude and said, "Why didn't you tell me you were hungry?"

"Not supposed to."

The albino sighed.

"Okay, we need to establish some new rules. First: any rules that you had before, you don't have to follow, unless I say it's a rule. Second: don't ever wander off alone, no matter what. Third: if I tell you two to leave me and run, you have to do it, and stick together. Promise you'll follow these rules?"

"Why would you tell us to leave?" Ludwig asked, looking frightened.

"It probably won't ever happened, but just in case. Oh, and one more thing. Come here, Harry."

Harry cautiously scooched closer to the older boy, who then tied a scarf around his forehead.

"What's this for?" Harry asked, reaching up to touch the scarf.

"Your scar is kinda conspikus, so we have to cover it. I'm gonna be wearing a hat for the same reason."

"What's 'conspikus'?"

"Um… it's when people can easily recognize you 'cause of something."

"... So people will know who I am because of my scar? That doesn't make sense, I don't know many people."

_Ack! I can't tell him why if he doesn't already know…_

"Just trust me, okay?" Gilbert pleaded.

"Okay," Harry said doubtfully as he stopped fiddling with the scarf.

"Good, let's go now," Gilbert said, pulling out a hat to cover his hair.

* * *

The trio once again continued walking, heading north, until dawn came, at which point Gilbert set up camp. Just as he had the previous morning, he made sure that his brothers were settled down to sleep while staying awake, keeping an eye out for other people.

* * *

**AN: There will probably be a bit of a time skip between this chapter and the next, since it would be boring if I just kept writing about them sleeping during the day and walking at night.**

**Please let me know what you think so far!**


	4. Chapter 4

After a few nights of walking, they reached the edge of the forest. Gilbert looked at the city before them, and decided that it was probably London. He led the younger two back into the forest to set up camp before settling down to wait for daylight.

* * *

When Harry was woken up, he had to shield his eyes from the unexpected bright sunlight.

"Why are we leaving so early?" he asked with a yawn.

"I remembered that it was Easter around when we left."

"So?"

"So, there's a train that goes to the school I was telling you about that leaves a little bit after Easter. Someone told me how to get to the platform, so we could go there now and sneak onto the train and hide before the students get there, and then sneak off the train after the students get off but before it leaves," Gilbert said triumphantly, coughing a bit as he finished speaking.

"_Bruder_? Are you okay?" Ludwig asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, West! I'm far too awesome to get sick!"

Neither Harry nor Ludwig believed him, but they decided it was best not to say anything.

"So how do we get to the train station?" Harry asked.

"We'll ask someone!"

"Won't they wonder why we don't have our parents with us?"

"Um… We can tell them that we're meeting our parents at the train station!"

"Bruder, how are you going to hide your eyes? Didn't you say it would be conspikus?"

Gilbert dug through his backpack for a moment before pulling out a pair of sunglasses.

"I can wear these, and no one will see my eyes!"

Harry and Ludwig couldn't think of any other objections to this plan, so they helped Gilbert pack up their blankets - Harry still had no idea how so many blankets could fit in one backpack - and followed the albino into the city.

* * *

Gilbert was right, they were indeed in London. As it turned out, they did not need to ask for directions, as they were able to easily find a map that showed them how to get to King's Cross Station. It took them most of the day to get there, as they got lost a few times, but they did eventually make it there. Once there, Gilbert led them to the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

Grasping their hands, he said, "You two trust me, right?"

Harry frowned. "Of course we do. Wh-"

Harry's question was interrupted as Gilbert ran, dragging the other two with him, straight into the barrier between the platforms. The black-haired boy closed his eyes, waiting for the moment when they hit the wall, but it never came.

He opened his eyes to find that they were on a different train platform, one that had not been there earlier. Turning around, he noticed that he could no longer see the rest of the station.

"Where are we?"

Gilbert grinned as he released his grip on their hands.

"This is Platform Nine and Three-quarters."

* * *

**AN: I'm sorry, this is another short-ish chapter. I'll try to get better at writing longer chapters, but for now, this is the best I can do.**

**As always, please let me know what you think!**


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